The present invention generally relates to the production of a beverage (e.g. cappuccino, latte macchiato) or a liquid comestible from a capsule, pod, bag or other ingredient-containing container.
Thereby the invention relates to those ingredient-containing containers only which can be placed into a machine (such as e.g. a beverage dispensing machine) in order to have a liquid (usually water) enter the interior of the container.
In the following the background of the invention will be explained referring to a capsule. It is to be understood that the example of the capsule has been chosen as a representative for an ingredient-containing container to be inserted in a beverage or liquid comestible producing machine.
The capsule contains at least one beverage or comestible ingredient. When the ingredient inside the capsule is made to interact with a liquid, for example hot water which is introduced into the interior of the capsule, a beverage can be produced by an interaction of the liquid with the ingredients contained in the capsule. This beverage can then be drained from the capsule.
There is a wide range of possible interactions between the beverage/comestible ingredient(s) and liquid, such as for example extraction, dissolution, brewing, mixing, etc., all of which are encompassed by the present invention even if the following description will focus only on a few of them for illustration purposes.
Typical representatives of such capsules are sealed capsules containing roasted ground coffee powder. Such capsules can be inserted in adapted coffee brewing machines. Once inserted into the coffee brewing machine, water is introduced in the capsule such that the water interacts with the coffee powder contained in the capsule. As a result thereof a coffee beverage is produced, which is outpouring from the capsule and delivered into a recipient (such as a mug, glass, or other) to make the beverage.
Consumers have widely appreciated the convenience of such a beverage production, which is a clean and quick beverage making process and which can be carried out with simple handling; namely essentially consisting of inserting the sealed coffee powder containing capsule in a beverage machine and pressing a button.
Now, especially in the case of coffee specialties (e.g. cappuccino, latte macchiato, or similar beverages) the consumers greatly appreciate the authenticity imparted onto the final beverage cup or glass by the three following elements:
a. The white milk froth covering the top of the beverage,
b. The “stain” of brown coffee marking the spot on the white milk froth phase from where the coffee has been added to the cup, and
c. In the case of a glass receptacle (typical for e.g. latte macchiato as served in bars in Germany), the appearance of three layers with different colours i.e. white at the bottom (liquid milk), brown in the middle (coffee extract), and white (milk froth) on the top.
A single prior art capsule can not deliver a two-phase, multi-layered product whereby two liquid portions coming from two different ingredients are dispensed at different times, for example, to produce a beverage with a milk phase and a coffee phase.
Now, there is a need for a production of beverages which comprises at least two beverage components which are to be produced and filled into a receptacle not simultaneously, but according to a defined time sequence, i.e. at different time periods during the beverage dispensing cycle. A typical example of such a beverage having several sequentially delivered beverage components is cappuccino-style coffee. In order to produce a cappuccino-style coffee, at first milk foam or milk froth is introduced into the receptacle, and only after a certain time period with regard to the start of the milk foam/milk froth filling, a coffee beverage ingredient is poured into the receptacle.
Therefore, according to the prior art, in order to produce, e.g. a cappuccino-style coffee, at first a milk powder or liquid milk containing capsule is inserted, which has then to be replaced by a coffee powder containing capsule. However, this way of preparing a cappuccino-style coffee is not convenient, time consuming as it requires the use of two different capsules.